Internal-combustion engine.



A. L., A. J. G. 6L1. L. BRICKNELL.

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.30. I912.

1355,8350 Patented 00. 5, 1915.

7 SHEETS-SHEET I.

A. L., A. J. 6. (SI 1. L. BRICKNELL.

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED 050.30.1912.

1,155,335.. Patented Oct. 5, 1915.

7 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

A. L, A. J. G. & J. L. BRICKNELL.

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.30. 1912.

Patented 001;. 5, 1915.

7 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

A. L., A. I. G. & J. L. BRICKNELL.

INTERNAI. COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 30, I9I2.

0 I I m u I I I I I n A. L., A. 1. (1&1. L. BRICKNELL.

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 30, 1912.

Patented Oct. 5, 1915.

7 SHEETSSHEET 5 FIG.

"v I I I I I v I A. L., A. J. 6. 1 1. L. BRICKNELL. INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED DEC-30, I912.

Patented Oct. 5, 1915.

7 SHEETS-SHEET 6.

A. L., A. .I. G. & .I. L. BRICKNELL.

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 30, I9I2.

Patented Oct. 5, 1915.

7 SHEETS-SHEET 7.

when sra'rns arana caries.

AUGUSTUS LEA BBICKNELL, ALGERNON JOSEPH GEORGE BBICKNELL, AND JOHN LEA.

BRICKNELL, OF CARSHAL'I'ON ENGLAND.

INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE.

Application filed December 39, 1912. Serial No. 739,349.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, AUeUs'rUs LEA BRICKNELL, ALGERNON JOSEPH GEORGE BR1oKNELL,'and JoHN LEA Barcnnnnnsubjects of the King of Great Britain, and resi-. dents of Waveney, Carshalton, in the county of Surrey, England, .have invented the wheels forming spaces in which a com-- bustible mixture, supplied to said wheels, is trapped, and compressed by the teeth and fed in parcels from said spaces to a combustionchamber which is constituted by the ,space formed between the rotor wheels and a'portion of the casing.

. The invention further-consists inproviding means for making use of what would I otherwise be the waste exhaust pressure which is contained in the several toothspaces before they emerge from their housing. This pressure is admitted into what would usually be the combustion chamber of a secondary engine coupled to the one in which the pressure originated, so as to" assist in the driving. The engine to which it is so admitted may be adapted to pass its own mixture through its meshing teeth and this, by supplying part of the volume and some heat, will conserve the energy of the aforesaid Waste exhaust pressure. This second or compound engine should provide more than enough power to compensate for what may be termed, back pressure resist ance in the primary engine. I

"The invention is illustrated by the diagrammatic drawings of which Figure 1 is a cross section of a simple form of low pressure internal combustion engine. Fig. is a longitudinal section of Fig. 3 1s a cross section of a modified form of engine burning its full capacity of air admitted at normal atmospheric pressure. Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section of a casing with a pocket in the endcovers to permit the pressure ofthe burning Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented eat. 5, 1915..

. gases to reach the abutment of the meshing wheels where its area is least. Fig. 6 is a cross section of a compound engine. 7 isa cross section of a double .engme. Fig.

Bis a cross section of another construction of engine with pairs of wheels mounted independently in the housing or casing. Fig.

19 is a longitudinal section of a multiple geared wheel engine. Fig. 10 is a cross section on the line X'X of Fig. 9. Fig. 11 is a cross section on the line XIXI of Fig. 9. Fig. 12 is a cross section of an engine withone large central wheel gearing with smaller Wheels on its periphery. Fig. 13 is Fig.' I

an end view showing means for reversingthe direction of a driven shaft. Fig. 14 is a longitudinal section illustrating a method of cooling a wheel internally. Fig. 15 is a cross section thereof on the line XVXV, of Fig. 14. Fig. 16 is a cross sectional view showing a construction in which the spaces between the .outerperiphery of the teeth and the inner wall of the housing are packed, by thin films or sheets of water, and

ig. 17 is a cross sectional view illustrating a method of scavenging or ridding the teeth of exhaust.

Figs. 1 and 2 illustrate a simple form of engine, consisting of a casing or housing a in which are mounted the shafts b of two meshing, toothed, rotor wheels 0 and (l, of which one as c, delivers the power of the engine, while that marked (1 assists the one marked 0. The air and fuel are admitted at e i n the direction of the arrow and are trapped by and compressed between the meshing teeth after which they emerge into the combustion chamber f, which may be supplied direct with fuel in'the case of volatile fuel.

The fuel being vaporized is ignited at the beginning by a sparking plug or other igniting device f and burns in the combustion the drawings refers in every case to a sparking plug or other igniting device. This engine is of low pressure, burning less thanits full capacity of air at atmospheric pressure and having no housing on the air inlet or compression side, it creates no back pressure or resistance. After ignition has once taken place, the fuel in the combustion chamber 7 burns continuously and the current may be cut oil from the sparking plug, but 'if the combustion be intermittent, itfollows that the sparking plug is arranged to ignite the charge intermittently as and when required.

Fig. 3 shows another form of engine in which air is admitted at normal atmospheric pressure, between the upper and lower housin gs h and a and passes around' in parcels formed by the spaces between the teeth of the wheels 0 and (Z bounded externally by the upper housing It in close proximity to the wheels whence it passes to the abutment while fuel is admitted from the ports 2' to the same teeth, whereby a full supply of combustible mixture is brought in parcels in the spaces between the teeth and compressed by them .and delivered to the combustion chamber 7". In this construction, the housing it is carried to an apex in the neighbor hood of the meshing teeth of the Wheels so that, in this and in every other construction in which the ingoing teeth are housed the whole of each parcel of air, whether accompanied by fuel or not, contained between the teeth, as they approach the point of meshing, is retained within the casing, but as the intermeshing teeth approach each other, they reject a certain portion of each parcel and these rejected portions accumulate, with the result that a certain amount of backpressure or resistance is produced in that part of the housing orcasing until it is automatically relieved by the teeth, trapping by their meshing contact at the abutment, and-so carrying away, asmuch accumulation into the combustion chamber as the in-- coming parcels provide for. In like manner and in cases where very quickly combustible fuel is used, the casing on the combustion chamber side may be carried asnearly to an apex as will leave room enough, and therefore time enough, for proper combustion and expansion.

The housing is open between the ends of the upper housing It and the lower housing the teeth of the wheels and so as to mingle with the fuel entering ati.

' enters at the openings 6 and fuel is admitted at 0, so that air and fuel pass around in parcels in the spaces between the teeth of the wheels. 0 and ll and the upper housing p to the compression chamber g, and thence to the combustion chamber f, but back pressure 'or.resistance is created as previously described inasmuch asxa part of each parcel of air or mixture'entering between the teeth passing into the compression chamber 9 is not retained, but goes back into the said chamber until the pressure in that chamber becomes sufficiently high to insure the normal amount of air or -mixture at the increased pressure being delivered between the meshing teeth and past their abutment into the combustion chamber The teeth of the wheels of thisengine are kept cool by sheets or sprays of water delivered from the slotted or perforated pipes r and air may be similarly delivered for scavenging purposes by the pipes s, shields or walls t being provided to .prevcnt the water thrown off from the teeth by centrifugal force from mingling .with the' air admitted at e or the exhaust escaping at g. Air may also be admitted by the pipes 14. The engine here shown may also be made to reverse its direction of rotation byusing the pipes in the lower casing a corresponding to the fuel pipes 0 and if desired the air pipes u and by employing the compression chamber 9 as the combustion chamber and the combustion chamber f as compression chamber and obviously one or the other of the air spraying pipes s at each end is supplied with compressed air according to the direction of rotation, or both may be supplied or additional pipes may be employed at or near this place. As in the previous construction the exhaust takes place on each side at g. Obviously in this case as in all other cases the housing a, 7), may be made hollow or in the form of a water jacket to keep the parts cool. The construction shown in Fig. 5 illus trates a pocketor' recess a in the end plate or plates 'w whereby the pressure of the burning gases in the combustion chamber may be added to the trapped gases on the combustion side of the abutment, either to further compress them or to ignite them and thus prevent the opposition of the abutment by any but its smallest area. theveffect of the larger area of the abutment on the compression side at the moment of trapping is useful in greatly counteracting the back pressure resistance. Naturally the Conversely,

pockets must not extend beyond the line of abutment or the combustion chamber would be in direct communication with the compression chamber. It Wlll be evident that if this engine is to be made reversible, the said by-passes or pockets must be closable in any convenient manner or they may. be duplicated on the other side of the abutment and so arranged that, one or the-other is closed according to the direction of running of the engine.

As shown in Fig. 6, the gases from the combustion chamber of the primary engine, shown above, emerge from the combustion chamber 7' in the form of isolated charges contained between the teeth of the rotor wheels and d and then pass by the conduits .1: into the combustion or equivalent chamber y of the secondary engine below. In cases where it is desired to compress the parcels of air or mixture in the primary engine, the air or mixture to be added is conveyed from the compression chamber 1 of the secondary engine to the spaces between the teeth of the wheels of the other or primary engine, while the said teeth are in their housing and before they reach the compression chamber of the primary engine, by means of pipes or passages y" so that parcels of compressedair or mixture are eventually carried into the compression chamber of the primary engine whereby the resistance to compression by the secondary engine is minimixed because it compresses the said parcels before they encounter resistance due to pres sure in the primary compression chamber 1. In this latter example, the air is com pressed above atmospheric pressure and the power of the engine and the 'so-called back pressure or resistance are both proportionately higher than in the engines described with reference to Figs. 3 and 4.

The construction shown in Fig. 7 comprises internally symmetrical upper and lower housings z and 1, upper combustion chamber 2 and lower combustion chamber 3, one pair of geared wheels 4: and 5 above, and meshing respectively with these, another pair of geared wheels 6 and 7"below, leaving a space or chamber 8 in the middle, in which appears nothing but teeth, except the end plates or covers 9, which inclose the space and carry the bearings of the four wheels. Air is admitted and mixture may be admitted to the central, chamber at 10. The back pressure or resistance isrenderednuga tory in this construction, because it will be evident that whatever air or mixture is brought through the meshed teeth at 10 into thecentral chamber 8, will be carried by the meshed teeth of and 5, and 6 and 7 respec-' tively into their respective combustion chamhere 2 and 3. and that neither attenuation nor compression of the contents of the central chamber 8 will ensue, but it will remain at normal atmospheric pressure or practically so. But if compressed air or mixture be admitted to the central chamber through the end plates 9 and not through any teeth,

such fluid will not exert any retarding effect upon the engine because the resistance set up by the back pressure upon the teeth of the top pair of wheels l and 5 and upon the teeth of the lower pair of wheels 6 and 7 which are running outward from the central chamber is balanced by the corresponding driving effect it exerts upon the meshed teeth ofthe wheels 4: and 6, and 5 and 7, which are running inward toward the central chamber. The action of compression upon the teeth being therefore balanced, this compression isefi'ected bymeans of air compressed by'asecondary engine or by any other suitable means. An engine of this type is either a double low pressure engine if supplied with air and fuel or mixture through the teeth of the wheels 4 and G, and 5 and T, or it may be compounded, in which case the exhaust gases from between the teeth of the primary engine, before they emerge from their cas-. ing enter the combustion chamber or chambers of the secondary engine.

In the construction shown in Fig. 8, one pair of meshing wheels 12 and 13 is mounted over another pair 1% and 15 respectively and there is sutiicient space between the pairs to allow of one common combustion chamber 16 housed at 17 and 18 to fit both pairs. The engine may be low pressure without back pressure, or resistance if the entering teeth arenot housed above and'below or of normal pressure with back'pressure or resistance if they are housed above at 19 and below at 20 and of more than normal pressure if the parcels are compressed, as is the case when theiuseful exhaust gases are dehvered from a primary engine to asecondary or compound engine as shown for ex ample in Fig. 6.

Figs."9 to 11 show a modification of the double engine previously described. This modification is constructed. so as to leave the ends of the cent 'al space 21 open and to house the pairs of wheels 22. 23, and 24, 25, and 26, 27, with a housing 28 which is provided with apertures 29, 30. and 31, bv which air or mixture. freely passing through the central space. will reach the incoming teeth of adjacent wvheels and be from thence carried in the spaces between those teeth and their housing to and among the engaging teeth which feed their combustion chambers 32, 33, and 34, formed by the external housings 36, and 37. scavenging will have been effected bv the meshing of the uncovered inwardly running teeth. In engines Where more than one pair of wheels are engaged. axial pressure is provided for by fu nishing the ends of every shaft with hay-.- dened rollers 33 (Figs. 9 and 11) which, bv running with their faces in contact, counter act and balance either whollv or partly the axial pressure which otherwise would be exerted upon the bearings. These hardened &

while the number of their revolutions may.

be high and the peripheral speed maybe high, the number of revolutions of the cen tral gear common-to all may be low as is often necessary. If each small member be housed on one and the same side for combustion, this engine will not be reversible and will be of low pressure without back pressure or resistance as with some of the engines herembefore described, but if as shown there be a chamber housed on each side of each small member, then each small member of this engine will be provided with a compression chamber 46 and a combustion chamber 47, air or fuel or both entering in parcels betweenthe toothed wheels andthe housing'as indicated by the arrowspointing toward the engine and the exhaust being carried in the spaces between the teeth of the toothed wheels and the housing 48, and

finally escaping partly by the openings 49 and partlyby the openings 9 as indicated by the arrows pointing outward. Obviously, if the chambers 47 be used as compression chambers and the chambers '46 as combustion chambers, the engine will be reversible as described and will have the other features attributed to other of the engines herein described as will be readily understood. Reversing of machinery when driven by such of these engines as are not reversible may be effected by many well known means, such as electric, hydraulic, and pneumatic transmission or. by mechanical reversing clutches, or .for example such engines may according to this invention be adapted for such reversing by fitting the shaft 50 of a driver wheel as shown in Fig. 13, with a pinion 51 and the shaft 52 of another wheel with a pinion 53 and providing such pinions with magnetic or friction clutches or'shifting' mechanical clutches diagrammatically indicated at 54 and 55 so that only one or other of these pinions may be coupled-to its shaft at a time. Both these pinions engage. preferably by double or herring-bone helical teeth, with a gear wheel 56 fixed to a main shaft 57 intended to be'driven. Only the pinion which is heldto its shaft will drive, and the other will revolve idly.

By disconnecting the driving pinion an instant before connecting-the .idler pinion, the machinery. will be reversed without reversmg the engine. In large installations, hydraulic or other brakes may be applied in the interval to check momentum of the driven part. But in those engines which are reversible in themselves very simple means are provide-:1 by so constructing the housing as aforesaid and as shown, for instance in Fig. 4, that it constitutes two chambers one above and one below or one on each side of the intermeshing t eeth of the rotor wheels, each of which chambers is capable of being used alternately to the other as a-combustion chamber for the purpose of reversing the engine.

It will be seen from the above description that in cases where unbalanced back pressure or resistance is produced one of these chambers has been a compression chamber, but that in cases where it is intended that such pressure shall not arise in these chambers, they must be freely open to the atmosphere by means of relief cocks 70, as also shown in Fig. 4 for example or otherwise, till their use ascombustion chambers is required and in all cases of this latter kind every combustion chamber must be so provided. The fire, beingf 'cdnstantly fed from the meshed teeth,is continuous in the combustion chamber and this continuous fire, which is continuously fed without occasioning any re-active influence or resistance from the pressure of combustion, is a feature of the invention. The transmission of such fire from the combustion chamber to a compression chamber may as shown in Fig. 4, be effected by a pipe-or by-pas s passage 71 external to the chambers, which passage may be mo-. mentarily opened by means of a cock 72,

thus affording a ready means of igniting the contents of the chamber entered, .which thus becomes in its turn the combustionthe engine. When chamber and reverses I back pressure is present in the chamber entered by the fire it will have a verypowerful effect in reversing, and if too powerful,

relief may be afforded by a simultaneously opened relief cockor by a safety-valve 73 operative only in such eventuality as also shown in Fig. 4. In those cases where the chamber entered contained no back pressure, such as the chambers which have been freely open by relief cocks 7 0 as has been described, the entering pressure should be sufficient to effect reversal, but in cases where it is not so, a little of the. fuel or of some superior fuel may be in ected, as an aid, into the inclosed air till reversal occurs.

The relief cocks in the vacated combustion chamber mustbe (momentarily in the case of engines with back pressure) opened at the closing of the by -pass. The revolving toothed wheels may, as shown in,Figs. 14 and 15, be also well cooled, internally by admitting water through passages 58 in the centers of their axles and by radial ports 59 to chambers 60 formed by turning an annular groove or grooves around the main body of the wheel, before its outer ring 61 (in which the teeth have been cut or will afterward be out) has been fixed upon it. All the grooves should communicate with each other, and some holes 62 drilled into the chamber at the ends of the wheels will emit the centrifugally forced water as they pass by a small pocket or recess at their ends which allows for its escape. Thus a current is maintained through the chambers automatically and the pressure contact of the water at these emission holes will further cool the insides of the end covers as the water passes around in the holes on its way to escape. Thus both outside and inside cooling is very thoroughly and simply effected. Inside cooling is still further promoted by the method oftpacking the periph V eral ends of the revolving teeth as shown in Fig. 16. This is effected by thin sheets of water introduced from apertures in pipes 63 or other suitable apertures in or con tiguous to the combustion chamber 7' and arranged so that fine jets or a thin sheet of Water shall be directed toward the very small space left between the ends of the teeth and their housing as they enter the housing on their Way from the combustion chamber. The thin sheet of Water will thus line the inside of the housing till it arrives at the outlet Which it will leave with the exhaust. This sealing water must of course be delivered at a pressure somewhat exceeding the combustion chamber pressure, but the volume of water is relatively very small so that a. small pump will suffice to supply the water. When reversing the engine this water may, by the same act, be diverted by suitable means into similar pipes in the temporary combustion chamber as will be readily understood.

Fig. 17 shows a method of scavenging the exhaust gases from the spaces between the teeth of the wheels and it consists of a small toothed wheel or wheels 64 at each end of the engine, the teeth of which meshing with the wheels 0, (Z, expel the gas from said spaces and by tending to create a' vacuum as the tooth of one wheel leaves the corresponding spacebetween the teeth of the other wheel, aids in the supply of fresh air to the engine. When the fuel is of a suitable character for feeding it into the parcels of air between the teeth it is preferable to do so, but this cannot of course be done when the spaces between the teeth are not housed, and even in cases Where they are housed and lead to a chamber which is more or less opened by relief cocks it is preferable to feed the fuel in this manner unless it be of a sufficiently volatile character to occasion a loss of its gas value which would pass out through the cooks. But if it be so such fuel must be injected into the combustion chanif-f her as spray or jet tomeet the air which in all cases arrives in the combustion chamber from the meshed teeth. But in cases in which the combustion chamber is below the abutment and the downward running teeth above it are naked or only splash-shielded, such oils or other fuels, as are not too volatile, may be simply dropped upon the meshing teeth or, when the combustion chamber is above, may be projected upward to them, and so will in both cases, pass with the air among the meshed teeth to the fire.

In cases where more than one fire is used in an engine or aseries of engines, pipe communication may be established between them for the purpose of equalizing the fire pressuredf desired, and also for the purpose of transmitting flame from the firing of one so as to fire others.

Although various ways of carrying out this invention have been described, it should be clearly understood that it may be carried out otherwise in many particulars without. departing from the essentials of the said invention.

I claim 1. A rotary internal combustion-engine, comprising in combination, a casing, intermeshed toothed rotor Wheels mounted in said casing, a combustion chamber constituted by the space formed between the rotor wheels and a portion of said casing, means for supplying combustible mixture to said combustion chamber between the intermesh ing teeth of said rotor wheels, means for igniting the combustible mixture, and exhaust outlets from said casing for the proclucts of combustion, substantially as set forth.

2. A rotary internal combustion engine comprising in combination, a casing, intermeshed toothed rotor wheels mounted in said casing, a combustion chamber constituted by the space formed between the rotor wheels and a portion of said casing, means for supplying air to said combustion chamber between the intermeshing teeth of said rotor wheels, means for supplying fuel to said combustion chamber, means for igniting the combustible mixture of fuel and air, and exhaust outlets from said casing for the products of combustion, substantially as set forth.

3. A rotary internal combustion engine comprisingin combination, a casing, intermeshed toothed rotor wheels mounted in said casing, -a combustion chamber constituted by the space formed between the rotor wheels and a portion of said casing, means for supplying combustible mixture to said combustion chamber between the intermeshing teeth of said rotor wheels, means for igniting the first supply of combustible mixture fed to the combustion chamber, continuous combustion of subsequent supplies of combustible mixture being maintained by the burninggases in the combustion chamber, and exhaust outlets from said casing for the products of combustion. substantially as set forth.

at. A rotary internal combustion engine comprising in combination, a casing. intermeshed toothed rotor wheels mounted in said casing, a combustion chamber constituted by the space formed between the rotor wheels and a portion of said casing, means for supplying air to said combustion chamber between the intermeshing teeth of said rotor wheels, means for supplying fuel to said combustion chamber. means for igniting the first supply 'of combustible mixture of fuel and air fed to the combustion chamber, continuous combustion of subsequent supplies of fuel and air being maintained by the burning gases in the combustion chamber, and exhaust outlets from said cas ing for the products of combustion, substantially as set forth.

A rotary internal combustion engine comprising in combination, a casing, intermeshed toothed rotor wheels mounted in said casing, a combustion chamber constituted by the space formed between the rotor wheels and a portion of said casing, means for supplying combustible mixture to the spaces between the teeth of the rotor wheels as said teeth move toward the combustion chamber, means for igniting the combustible mixture in said combustion chamber, and exhaust outlets from said casing for the products of combustion. substantially as set forth.

6. A rotary internal combustion engine comprising in combination, a casing, intermeshed toothed rotor wheels mounted in said casing, a combustion chamber constituted by the space formed between the rotor wheels and a portion of said casing. means for supplying combustible mixture to said combustion chamber, means for igniting the combustible mixture in said combustion chamber, and outlets for the exhaust of the products of combustion from said casing, direct communication between said combustion chamber and exhaust outlets being prevented by the intervening teeth of the rotor wheels. substantially as set forth. I

7. A rotary internal combustion engine comprising in combination a casing, intermeslied toothed rotor wheels mounted in said casing, a combustion chamber constituted by-thespace formed between the rotor Wheels and a portion of said casing, means for supplying combustible mixture to said combustion chamber, means for igniting the combustible mixture in said combustion chamber, and outlets for the exhaust of the products of combustion from said casing, saidproductsof combustion being carried to the exhaust outlets in the spaces between the teeth of the said rotor wheels, substantially as set forth.

8. A rotary internal combustion engine comprising in combination, a casing, intermeshed toothed rotor wheels mounted in said casing, a combustion chamber constituted by the space formed between the rotor for supplying air to said combustion cham ber between the intern'ieshing teeth of said rotor wheels, such air being compressed in the spaces between the intermeshing teeth. means for supplying fuel to said combustion chamber, means for igniting the combustible mixture of fuel and air fed to the combustion chamber, and exhaust outlets from said casing for the products of combustion, substantially as set forth.

10. A rotary internal combustion engine comprising in combination, a casing, intermeshed toothed rotor wheels mounted in said casing, a combustion chamber constituted by the space formed between the rotor wheels and a portion of said casing, means for supplying combu'stible mixture to the spaces between the teeth of the rotor wheels as said teeth move toward the combustion chamber, means for igniting the combustible mixture in said combustion chamber and openings at either side of said casing, said openings permitting of both the inlet of air for supporting combustion and the exhaust of the products of combustion from the combustion chamber, substantially as set forth.

11. A rotary internal combustion engine. comprising in combination, a casing, intermeshed toothed rotor said casing. a compression chamber constituted by the space formed between the rotor wheels and one portion of the casing. a combustion chamber constituted by the space formed between therotor wheels and another portion of the casing, said compression and combustion chambers being on op posite sides of the inter-meshing teeth of the rotor Wheels. means for supplying combustible mixture to said compression chamber from whence the combustible is carried to the combustion chamber by the teeth of the rotor Wheels, means for igniting the combustibie mixture, and exhaust outlets from wheels mounted in the casing for the products of combustion, substantially as setforth.

12. A rotary internal combustion engine comprising in combination, a casing, intermeshed toothed rotor wheels mounted in said casing, a chamber constituted by the space formed between the rotor wheels and one portion of the casing, another chamber constituted by the space formed between the rotor wheels and another portion of the casing, said chambers being on opposite sides of the intermeshing teeth of the rotor wheels, means for supplying combustible mixture to either of said chambers whereby either one of said chambers may constitute a combustion chamben-means for igniting the combustible mixture, and eXhaust outlets from the casing for the products of combustion, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

13. A rotary internal combustion engine comprisingin combination, a casing, intermeshed toothed rotor wheels mounted in said casing, a combustion chamber constituted by the space formed between the rotor wheels and a portion of said casing, means for supplying combustible mixture to said combustion chamber, means for igniting the combustible mixture, exhaust outlets from said casing for the products of combustion, the latter being carried in the spaces between the teeth of the notor wheels to the exhaust outlets, and pipes for subsequently delivering fluid onto said rotor wheels, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

14. A rotary internal combustion engine comprising in combination, a casing, intermeshed toothed rotor Wheels mounted in said casing, a combustion chamber constituted by the space formed between the rotor wheels and a portion of said casing, means for supplying combustible mixture to said combustion chamber, means for igniting the combustible mixture, exhaust outlets from said casing for the products of combustion, the latter being carried in the spaces between the teeth of the rotor wheels to the exhaust outlets, and means for subsequently scavenging the teeth of the rotor wheels, substantially as set forth.

15. A rotary internal combustion engine comprising in combination, a casing, intermeshed toothed rotor wheels mounted in said casing, a combustion chamber constitutedby the space formed between the rotor wheels and a portion of said casing, means for supplying combustible mixture to said combustion chamber, means for igniting the combustible mixture. exhaust outlets from said casing for the products of combustion. and means for cooling said rotor wheels. substantially as set forth.

16. An internal combustion engine comprising in combination, a casing, intermeshed toothed rotor wheels mounted in said casing, a combustion chamber constituted by the space formed between the rotor wheels and a portion of said casing, means for supplying combustible mixture to said combustion chamber, means for igniting the combustible mixture, exhaust outlets from said casing for the products of combustion, the latter being carried in the spaces between the teeth of the rotor wheels to the exhaust outlets, and deflecting devices at said outlets for deflecting the products of combustion away from the rotor wheels, substantially as set forth.

17. An internal combustion engine, comprising in combination, a casing, intermeshed toothed rotor wheels mounted in said casing, a combustion chamber constituted by the space formed between the rotor wheels and a portion of said casing, means for supplying fuel to said combustion chamber, openings in the sides of said casing for the admission of air and for the exhaust of products of combustion, means for igniting the combustible mixture of air and fuel in the combustion chamber, means for delivering a. cooling medium onto said rotor wheels at said openings, and deflecting devices for preventing the cooling medium from intermingling with the ingoing air or the exhaust, substantially as set forth.

18. A rotary internal combustion engine comprising in combination, a casing, a pair of inter-meshed toothed rotor wheels mounted in said casing, a combustion chamber constituted by the space formed between a portion of said casing and said rotor wheels, means for supplying combustible mixture to said combustion chamber between the intermeshing teeth of said rotor wheels, means for igniting the combustible mixture and ex haust outlets from said casing for the products of combustion. substantially as set forth.

19. A rotary internal combustion engine, comprising in combination, a casing, a plurality of inter-meshed toothed rotor wheels, combustion space formed between the rotor wheels and the casing, means for supplying combustible mixture to said combustion space between the intermeshing teeth of said rotor wheels, means for igniting the combustible mixture, and exhaust outlets from said casing for the products of combustion, sub stantially as set forth.

AUGUSTUS LEA BRICKNELL. ALGERNON JOSEPH GEORGE BRICKNELL. JOHN LEA BRICKNELL.

Witnesses W. MORLEY,

O. J. WoaTH. 

